Dallas Voice – John S. Hall – Contributing Writer
In high heels and falsies, trenchant memoir staggers along the wildly funny side
?I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir,? by Josh Kilmer-Purcell. (HarperPerennial 2006) 334 pp., $13.95.
Since Oprah chewed out James Frey, the memoir has lost some credibility. Publishers now realize that the autobio trade is regarded with suspicion. Especially suspicious would be a memoir endorsed by Frey, as is the case with Josh Kilmer-Purcell?s ?I Am Not Myself These Days.? However, a disclaimer on the copyright page makes it clear that the contents of this book are ?the truth in drag.?
For several years, Kilmer-Purcell sashayed through the New York nightlife scene as Aquadisiac ? Aqua for short ? a seven-foot-tall drag queen whose chief gimmicks were the live goldfish that swam inside her transparent plastic breasts. One night, a handsome young man (Jack) approached Aqua and asked what the fishes? names were.
?Left and Right,? she replied.
Shortly thereafter, a relationship began between Jack and Josh, and it wasn?t long before Kilmer-Purcell moved on up to a proverbial deluxe apartment in the sky: Jack?s 42nd floor penthouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Unlike George and Louise Jefferson, Jack pays the rent by being a much-in-demand male hustler.